Elements of Civil Government eBook

1. Why does the Constitution require that the
President shall be a native of the United States?

2. Who is now President, and of what State is
he a citizen?

3. When was he elected?

4. Should the President be eligible for reelection?

5. Do you think he should have the veto power?

6. Of what use is a passport in traveling?

7. What is internal revenue?

8. What was the principal cause of the national
debt?

9. How many soldiers, including officers, in
the army of the United States?

10. Of what value are the weather reports?

11. Why is it right for the government to grant
pensions?

12. Why should a census be taken?

13. What is the population of the United States,
and what the population of this State, by the last
census?

14. What is meant by conducting a suit before
the supreme court?

QUESTION FOR DEBATE.

Resolved, That the President and the Vice President
should be elected by the popular vote.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE UNITED STATES—­(Continued).

JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT.

The judicial department is one of the three great
departments of the government, being coordinate with
Congress, the legislative power, and with the President,
the executive power. The principle of three
coordinate departments of government is new, the United
States being the first nation that ever embodied it
in its constitution.

The judicial system of the United States includes
the Supreme Court of the United States, the circuit
courts of appeals, district courts, the courts of
the District of Columbia, the court of claims, the
court of customs appeals, a territorial court for
each of the Territories, and several commissioners’
courts in each of the States.

JURISDICTION OF UNITED STATES COURTS.—­The
jurisdiction of United States courts extends to the
following classes of suits at law:

1. To all cases arising under laws passed by
Congress.

2. Those affecting ministers, consuls, and other
agents of the United States and foreign countries.

3. Suits arising on the high seas.

4. All suits to which the United States is a
party.

5. Controversies between a State and the citizens
of another State.

6. Cases between citizens of different States.

7. Suits between citizens of the same State claiming
lands under grants by different States.

8. Cases between a State or its citizens and
a foreign State or its citizens.

It will be seen that all cases at law to which a State
is a party must be tried in the courts of the United
States. A direct suit can not be brought against
the United States except by authority of a special
act of Congress; nor can a suit be brought against
a State by a citizen of another State, or by one of
its own citizens, except by the special permission
of its legislature.